Health Care

Been There, Done That? Why This Year's Health Care Summit Will Be Different From Last Year's

Brian Beutler | February 8, 2010, 5:55PM

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), President Obama, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

About a year ago, President Obama kick started the health care debate by hosting a bipartisan summit designed to build momentum for what he hoped would be his signature domestic policy initiative. The March 5, 2009 meeting was marked by pleasantries, and engagement between Republicans and Democrats--and that figured. Republicans were facing a popular President, pushing a popular initiative, in the aftermath of a big victory on the stimulus bill.

Fast forward to February 2010, and a lot of people in Washington--liberals, Democrats, even some pundits--are asking a question: Why is President Obama wasting his time with yet another summit. After all, he tried this a year ago and...well, just look how well that's paid off.

Times have changed, though. And now Democrats see an opportunity not so much for bipartisan co-operation, but for the President to magnify the differences between his own party, and the hell-bent-on-obstruction GOP. Whether they're right or wrong, though, the politics have simply changed. After a year of smears and bad faith, with Republicans locked into opposition, this month's summit simply won't be a redux of the same event.

Take Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)--ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee. Here's what he said to Obama at the time: "I think you served with us in the Senate long enough to know that Max Baucus and I have a pretty good record of working out bipartisan things."

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Health Care

Pelosi: No Hope For Public Option At This Time

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2010, 5:23PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

The public option already died once. Today it died again.

House progressives have been trying to use the health care stalemate to revive the public option. Almost 100 have signed a letter urging Congressional leaders to include a public option in a separate bill, which could in theory pass the Senate with a simple majority of votes. If that happened--a big if--it could then be included as part of comprehensive legislation, securing progressives a major victory. But on a conference call today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put a second set of nails in the public option's coffin, saying it would not be part of any grand bargain to push ahead with health reform. But in so doing, she took a veiled swipe at the White House for not standing enthusiastically behind the proposal.

"The Senate never supported the public option," Pelosi said.

There was talk that there would be 51 votes for it, but it never passed on the floor of the Senate. It did pass in the House and, of course, I think it would be the way to go. But it isn't the way that the Senate went. And so I think that what you might see coming out of some reconciliation would be those areas of agreement that all three--the White House, the Senate and the House--had already agreed to...more than two weeks ago.

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Health Care

#HealthCareFAIL: How The Dems Botched Their Signature Legislation

Brian Beutler | January 29, 2010, 3:37PM

Clockwise from top left: Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT); MA Sen. candidate Martha Coakley (D); Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Former Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and President Obama

Talk about fits and starts.

A year ago Democrats committed to passing comprehensive health care legislation; six months ago, it became clear that their project wouldn't go smoothly; one month ago it was full speed ahead; and a week and a half ago it all fell apart.

Health care reform is now on life support. To mix metaphors, it's on life support and the back burner at the same time. How the Democrats' signature agenda item went from a foregone conclusion to a prospect in peril is a tale of missteps and bad luck. No single player or event brought us to where we are today. But if any of the below episodes had gone...more smoothly, this might've been a done deal.

You know how the saying goes: Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan. And you can be sure that if health care reform fails, the people below will make like John Edwards--quick-like.

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Health Care

Top Progressive: Public Option Unlikely To Be Revived In Health Care 'Plan B'

Brian Beutler | January 28, 2010, 10:44AM

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

For the first time in the year-long debate over health care, House liberals have real leverage and are demanding changes to Senate legislation before they agree to charge ahead. Many members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus would even like to see the public option revived and passed in a separate bill through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process.

But in a brief interview last night, one of the House's top progressives told me leadership isn't even considering it.

"I don't believe it fits in the reconciliation," said Progressive Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). "All that is is budget."

"I haven't heard why, exactly, but when [leaders] list the things that have budgetary components, the public option's not on it," Woolsey added.

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Health Care

Leading Health Care Experts Tell Senate To Step It Up

Brian Beutler | January 27, 2010, 9:37AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Democratic insiders, members of Congress, and health care reformers are now ramping up pressure on the Senate to take procedural steps to assure a comprehensive bill can become law. The House is signaling that it's ready to pass the Senate's health care bill, but only if the Senate gives concrete signs that they will follow suit, and pass a separate amending bill through the budget reconciliation process--a move that is increasingly seen as a necessary precondition of a successful reform push.

Today, 49 leading health care experts--who recently urged the House to act--are now acknowledging that the House deserves an act of good faith from the upper chamber before it pulls the trigger on reform.

"Key differences between the bills, such as the scope of the tax on high-cost plans and the allocation of premium subsidies, should be negotiated through the reconciliation process. Key elements of a reconciliation compromise enjoy broad support in both houses," reads a new letter from the experts to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV); Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT); and President Obama. "Other discrepancies between the House and Senate bills can be addressed through other means."

Last Friday, we urged the House to adopt the Senate-passed bill along with improvements that can be immediately achieved through reconciliation. We urge the Senate to join the House in this effort, and we urge the President to sign both bills.

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Budget Reconciliation

Amid Health Care Chaos, Progressives See Opening For Public Option Revival

Brian Beutler | January 22, 2010, 12:55PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Health care be on life support in the House of Representatives, but as Democrats work to revive it, some progressives see an opening to bring back an element of reform that flatlined weeks ago: The public option.

They say health care reform should pass, but only after an amending bill has been passed through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process--and that amending bill should include the public option.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has delivered a strategy memo to the Chiefs of Staff of all Senate Democrats outlining this course.

"The best thing Democrats could do in 2010 is fight big corporations like insurance companies and Wall Street," the memo reads. "On health care, the path forward is obvious."

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Democrats

Leading Health Care Experts Tell House To Pass Senate Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | January 22, 2010, 10:14AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Nearly four dozen of the nation's leading health care luminaries--including Jacob Hacker, the man who brought the public option to light--are urging the House of Representatives to pass the Senate health care bill, and quickly pass a separate bill to modify it: an approach favored by some members of Democratic leadership, major unions, and reform advocates.

In a stark message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and her health care lieutenants--Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and George Miller (D-CA)--the experts say it's time for the House to act.

"Both houses of Congress have adopted legislation that would provide health coverage to tens of millions of Americans, begin to control health care costs that seriously threaten our economy, and improve the quality of health care for every American," reads a letter, obtained by TPMDC. "These bills are imperfect. Yet they represent a huge step forward in creating a more humane, effective, and sustainable health care system for every American. We have come further than we have ever come before. Only two steps remain. The House must adopt the Senate bill, and the President must sign it."

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House of Representatives

House Leadership Scrambles To Contain Fallout, Right Course On Health Care

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2010, 12:34PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

It is now evident to House leadership that their plan to amend the Senate health care bill and toss it back over to the upper chamber for final passage has been scuttled. Members of the House Democratic caucus are wandering far off the reservation, and the longer that persists, the more difficult it will be for leadership to pull them back into the corral.

In an attempt to regain control over an increasingly chaotic situation, leadership will hold a caucus meeting this afternoon*, and at stake could be the fate of the reform drive that has eaten most of the first year of Barack Obama's presidency.

To right the course, they'll have to convince rank and file members--but particularly progressives, who are now in full revolt--that success is still possible, half measures won't do, and failure is not an option. Given what members are saying, though, that won't be easy.

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House of Representatives

Latest Health Care Flashpoint Strains Relationships Among Democrats

Brian Beutler | January 8, 2010, 1:17PM

President Obama and Rahm Emmanuel

Last year's health care debate was dominated by a bruising--and ultimately losing--fight over the public option. But simmering on the back burner for weeks while the public option ran its course has been a battle among Democrats over how to pay for health care reform. And now, with the public option swept into the dustbin, the fight over taxes has come to the fore, and is testing relationships all the way up the Democratic ladder to party leadership and the White House.

At issue is whether expanding insurance coverage to over 30 million Americans should be paid for by wealthy Americans (as the House would like), or, as the Senate calls for, by people who have expensive health care plans--many of whom are middle class. The vast majority of House Democrats--and the public at large--oppose the Senate proposal. But the idea has one powerful ally: President Obama.

"The polling just hasn't moved an inch," Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) told me. Recent data indicates that the public opposes the Senate's so-called "Cadillac tax" plan by a two-to-one margin. "Frankly, it's the same polling that was there when Obama went after McCain on this."

According to Courtney many in the House believe that, after sacrificing the public option, Democrats should draw a line in the sand over the excise tax--including one Democratic leader.

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Health Care

OH SNAP! Pelosi On Obama: 'There Were A Number Of Things He Was For On The Campaign Trail'

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2010, 3:48PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had little to say this afternoon at a press conference following a meeting between House leaders and health care principals. She and other members acknowledged that a number of differences must be resolved between House and Senate bills before a final reform package can be signed in to law--and all are aware that too much tinkering could upset a delicate balance in the Senate, where legislation often must meet a supermajority threshold.

But Pelosi did toss a jab President Obama's way.

Referring explicitly to one of Obama's campaign pledges, a reporter asked Pelosi whether C-SPAN cameras would be allowed to film the House-Senate negotiations.

"There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail," she said, without addressing the question.

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Health Care

Mixed Messages: House, White House Differ On Health Care Roadmap

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2010, 1:54PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Barack Obama

House aides have distributed a memo, describing in precise detail dozens of ways the House health care bill differs from the Senate package. It's a useful primer, but it's also a clear sign that the House, which will be forced to make major concessions to the Senate, isn't prepared to roll over entirely. However, they may be on a different page than the White House, which is projecting confidence about the relative ease of the task ahead.

The memo begins by listing a single page worth of similarities between the two chamber's bills. "However," it goes on, "especially on a topic as historic and sweeping as health reform, there are differences between the chambers that will have to be resolved."

What follows is an 11-page chart of disparities between the two packages--some narrow, some fairly significant--suggesting a complex job ahead for congressional and White House negotiators.

That's not what the White House wants you to think, though.

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Health Care

In New Ad, Leading Reform Group Throws Weight Behind House Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2010, 10:51AM

With House and Senate leaders working with the White House to put the finishing touches on a far-reaching health care bill, the reform campaign Health Care for America Now chimes in with a new ad urging Democrats to use the House's more progressive legislation as a lodestar.

A number of senators have made it clear that they will kill any final bill that doesn't include a public option, and with that provision dead for now, HCAN has tweaked its focus.

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Jim Clyburn

Clyburn Compares Health Care Battle To Struggle For Civil Rights Act

Christina Bellantoni | December 31, 2009, 8:55AM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn compared health care reform to the struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act, telling a Democratic colleague that people forget the compromises needed decades ago for the legislation to break a filibuster.

In comments at the start of a conference call, Sen. Claire McCaskill made a crack that the political climate has gotten tougher since Fox News became more powerful and said that's one reason why there is opposition to the health care plan.

"The 30-second soundbyte is what's got all this up in the air," agreed Clyburn (D-SC). "Every big social change you go through this. It will take six to eight years before this all settles down."

Their remarks were captured as a Wednesday afternoon conference call about the Democratic National Committee's proposed changes to the presidential 2012 nominating calendar began. The call was open to the press and the public.

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Health Care

Progressives Press Feingold To 'Fulfill' Obama's Health Care Promises

Christina Bellantoni | December 29, 2009, 11:28AM

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is running a new health care ad in Wisconsin pressuring Sen. Russ Feingold to fight President Obama on the public option.

PCCC members identified Feingold (D-WI) as a senator they would target to oppose the final health care compromise unless it includes a public option.

The new ad, which you can watch after the jump, says Feingold has the power to "fulfill" Obama's public option promise. The release was timed to coincide with an email to members saying the progressive senator could be a "hero" on improving the health care bill.

The ad, running in Madison, Green Bay, and Milwaukee, says "any final health care bill without a public option is not change we can believe in."

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Health Care

Exhausted Senators Pass Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | December 24, 2009, 8:26AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Senators couldn't wait to skip town after the long-delayed passage of health care reform legislation this morning, and high on their vacation agendas--up there with celebrating the holidays, and visiting with families--will no doubt be sleep.

A tired Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) set the tone for the event, which vacillated between solemn and lighthearted. When the clerk called out his name, Byrd broke with protocol. Instead of calling out his vote, Byrd shouted "Mr. President, this is for my friend, Ted Kennedy. Aye."

In one of two moments of levity during this morning's vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accidentally voted against his own legislation. Once the laughter died, he changed his inadvertent "no" to a "yes." After the vote, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) joked "The leader has succumbed to fatigue."

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Health Care

Obama: I'll Start Working On Health Care During Christmas Recess

Rachel Slajda | December 23, 2009, 6:04PM

President Barack Obama

In an interview today with PBS, President Obama said he plans to begin working on merging the Senate and House health care bills before Congress returns from Christmas recess.

"We hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session," Obama said, "because the American people need it now."

Obama is expected to work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to merge the bills.

"I intend to work as hard as I have to work, especially after coming this far over the course of the year, to make sure that we finally close the deal," Obama said.

The House returns Jan. 12, and the Senate returns Jan. 18.

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Health Care

Dean Softens On Senate Health Care Bill: If The GOP Hates It, It Can't Be So Bad

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2009, 12:52PM

Governor Howard Dean raised the ire of the White House and Democratic leaders last week when he publicly denounced the Senate health care bill, and urged liberal members to kill it. Dean's influence with progressive reformers goes without saying, so members weren't shy about dismissing his proclamation.

But he seems to have changed his tune.

Here he is on the Rachel Maddow show last night.

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Health Care

If House Progressives Reject The Senate Health Care Bill, Where Will Pelosi Turn?

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2009, 11:34AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

In November, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi passed a health care bill by almost the slimmest of margins. The final vote was 220-215. One Republican--Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)--voted with 219 Democrats to pass the bill.

Pelosi probably could have forced a wider victory, but freed up vulnerable members to vote against the bill for political reasons. Next year, though, her caucus will be faced with a fairly different, less progressive bill--something modeled on the Senate's health care package--and she'll likely have to draw on a marginally different coalition of members.

On the left, Pelosi could lose some progressives, miffed about the demise of the public option, and unhappy with the abortion language in both bills. On that score, she could lose a number of resolutely pro-choice Democrats. Cautioning that the abortion language in the conference report hasn't been finalized yet, and that nobody's committed to vote one way or another, one keyed in aide said members like Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Jane Harman (D-CA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) have grave concerns about both the House and Senate bills' abortion provisions.

Of course, with 218 members needed to pass a bill, and 219 Democrats voting 'aye' the first time around, Pelosi faces a nearly zero-sum game. If she encounters defections from her progressive wing, she'll have to make up those votes among conservative-voting freshmen, sophomore, and Blue Dog members, who opposed the House bill the first time around.

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Barack Obama

Obama: I Didn't Campaign On A Public Option; Progressives: Excuse Me?!

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2009, 10:13AM

President Barack Obama

Yesterday, President Barack Obama created a firestorm among progressives when he told the Washington Post something readily falsifiable.

Echoing an idea first put forth by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Obama said, "I didn't campaign on the public option."

In fact, though the public option wasn't a regular part of his stump speech, Obama appointed the public option's intellectual father, Jacob Hacker, to his health care advisory committee, and his campaign's health care white paper prominently featured a government run plan, with no mandate requiring uninsured people to buy insurance. The bill he will likely sign next year will do the opposite.

Progressives have taken notice, and responded rapidly.

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Health Care

Quelling The Drama: Democrats Mum On House-Senate Health Care Negotiations

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2009, 9:49AM

President Barack Obama talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office.

It's been a difficult year for President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The two have clashed with each other, and Reid has clashed with his caucus, over how to solve a seemingly insoluble problem: how to push a health care bill through the Rube Goldberg-like legislative factory better known to most as the United States Senate.

But, in fits and starts, and after several near-stalls, they've done it. Today, 60 senators will vote to end the last of several filibusters, and tomorrow morning, more than 50 will vote to pass a single, historic piece of legislation. Time for a victory lap, right? Hardly.

Now that all 60 members of Reid's caucus have formed a fragile alliance, though, wouldn't you know that all anybody cares about is whether, and how, it can survive the next theater of battle--a contentious conference process where it will be merged with different, and farther-reaching, House health care legislation. In response, in a bid to keep the next weeks free of the drama of the last several months, Democrats are doing the obvious thing: keeping it extra quiet.

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Health Care

Earlier Benefits Could Be On The Table In House/Senate Health Care Conference

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2009, 3:44PM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

With the public option dead, progressives are looking for something else to get out of negotiations and moving up the list is the possibility of speeding up implementation.

When the two chambers meet in conference, House leaders will have a prioritized package of goodies in mind, and they'll be pushing hard for them. On the list will likely be familiar issues like financing--should wealthy Americans pay for reform, or should a tax on high-end health insurance policies cover the cost, or should it be a mix of the two?

But a separate issue is beginning to come into focus.

"I think one other one, is starting date," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) told reporters today.

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Health Care

Gibbs: Obama Did Everything He Could For Health Care

Rachel Slajda | December 22, 2009, 12:00PM

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Asked today about Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) claim that President Obama didn't pressure him on a public option, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama "absolutely" did everything he could for health care reform.

Gibbs said Obama has been clear on what he supported, and senators have been clear on what they didn't support. He added that the president is very pleased with the Senate bill, which has 95 percent of what he wanted.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) told TPMDC that he was surprised Obama didn't push for it. "I just assumed that" he did, Harkin said.

Reporting by Christina Bellantoni.

Health Care

Harkin: I Assumed--Wrongly--The White House Pushed Strongly For Public Option

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2009, 9:05AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Yesterday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) articulated surprise and disappointment that the White House had not done more to push Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to support a public option. Moments before a vote this morning, I asked him to elaborate.

"All I'll say, I was surprised to hear this because I had assumed all along that the White House was pushing strongly for the public option," Harkin said. "I just assumed that."

"Regardless of that, I mean it was clear that in the end that we did not have the votes for it," Harkin added. "This bill is too important in its entirety to let it sink on that issue."

"As I said yesterday, the issue of a public option will be revisited," the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee insisted. "I guarantee it."

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Health Care

Poll: Public Still Doesn't Like Health Care Bill -- And Still Like Public Option, Medicare Buy-In

Eric Kleefeld | December 22, 2009, 8:48AM

President Barack Obama

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that a large majority of Americans continue to oppose the health care bill -- and that two policies that have been dropped, the public option or the Medicare buy-in, which were both very popular.

The poll finds 53% of respondents saying they mostly disapprove of the health care plan in Congress, to only 36% who approve. From the party internals, support is at 64%-22% among Democrats, 10%-83% among Republicans, and 30%-58% among independents.

The now-departed public option, however, is supported by a 56%-38% majority, including a 54%-41% margin among independents. Also, the Medicare buy-in for Americans ages 55-64 was supported by 64%-30%, including 57%-36% among independents and even a 50%-44% margin among Republicans.

The poll also finds that only 31% agree both that the President and Congress must take on health care reform now and support the current proposals. Another 28% want reform now but don't support the current proposals (a number spread pretty evenly across all partisan sub-samples), while 36% don't think reform should be taken on now.

From the pollster's analysis: "While the Senate leadership reportedly has the votes to pass a health care overhaul plan this week, outside the Beltway there appears to be weak support, both to what voters understand as the plan, and the need to pass that plan now."

Health Care

Maine Legislator Leaves The GOP Over Health Care Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 21, 2009, 9:44AM

Rep. Jim Campbell (R-ME)

Democratic leaders in D.C. weren't the only legislators frustrated by Republican party efforts to block health care reform last week. After watching his party promise to stonewall any Democratic reform efforts, Maine state Rep. Jim Campbell decided it was time to drop the (R) from his title.

From Campbell's statement announcing his decision to leave the GOP and become an Independent (h/t Ben Smith):

I have been very frustrated with the Republican Party in Maine, and nationally, for their failure to address the health care crisis in a meaningful way. Nobody has all the answers, but the Republican Party has none when it comes to health care reform.

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Health Care

Senate To Hold Key Health Care Test Vote

Brian Beutler | December 21, 2009, 12:43AM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

The result is not really in doubt. Tonight, 60 Democrats and zero Republicans will likely vote to end debate on a package of amendments--stripping the public option, adding stricter abortion language, etc.--to Senate health care legislation.

It sounds, boring, but it's actually highly consequential.

If all goes as planned, the successful vote will be tangible evidence that the Senate is making its final descent towards passing health care reform legislation. All that can stop it is an unforeseen political or procedural catastrophe.

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Barack Obama

Feingold: Thank Obama For The #Publicoptionfail

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2009, 7:23PM

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI)

That's gotta hurt.

Sen. Russel Feingold (D-WI) has come out in support of the Senate health care bill--but not before placing one of its major failings at the feet of the White House. "[T]he lack of support from the administration made keeping the public option in the bill an uphill struggle," reads a statement from Feingold. "Removing the public option from the Senate bill is the wrong move, and eliminates $25 billion in savings. I will be urging members of the House and Senate who draft the final bill to make sure this essential provision is included."

On the one hand, it's hard to imagine Robert Gibbs taking the criticism sanguinely--the White House has insisted, to an incredulous community of activists, that President Obama did everything in his power to secure a public option. But on the other, this is criticism the White House might secretly be glad to accept in exchange for one of Congress' leading progressives saying he supports the controversial reform bill.

You can read the entire statement after the jump.

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Abortion

Reid Confident He Has 60 Votes To Pass Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2009, 11:48AM

Democratic Senators Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Tom Harkin

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seems confident that he has the 60 votes he'll need to pass health care reform. Asked by a reporter at a press conference moments ago whether his caucus is united to end a filibuster of his bill, Reid joked, "seems like it!"

In order to secure the support of all 58 Democrats, and both independents who caucus with his party, Reid had to make significant concessions to centrists, including eliminating the public option, and tightening the language restricting federal funds from paying for abortion.

He also apparently had to guarantee that the federal government would cover the entire cost of expanding Medicaid in the state of Nebraska--home to Sen. Ben Nelson. Reid insisted today that this Medicaid agreement, contained in the manager's amendment was a "small part" of winning Nelson's support for the legislation, but it's indicative of the sort of political trading that was necessary for Democratic leadership to win unanimous support for the legislation from the caucus.

And it seems to have worked. Reid will need his caucus to stay united for the next several days, and possibly into next month if a health care reform package is to become law. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) told reporters this afternoon that unless the timeline for passage is lengthened into January, she'll likely support a filibuster of the bill.

Barack Obama

Poll: Dems, Independents Overwhelmingly Disappointed With Obama's Public Option Performance

Brian Beutler | December 18, 2009, 9:34AM

President Barack Obama

A finding from a new Research 2000 poll suggests Democrats and Independents are deeply disappointed with President Obama's unwillingness to truly engage in the fight for a public option.

Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Democracy for America, the question, to 800 likely voters was: "President Obama has said he favors a public health insurance option. Senator Joe Lieberman is widely credited with forcing Senate Democrats to take the public option off the table in order to win his vote. Do you think President Obama should have done more to pressure Lieberman to allow the public option to move forward?"

Overall, 63 percent said yes, 29 percent said no, and 8 percent had no opinion.

But among Democrats, and Independents, the numbers are far more striking.

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Andy Stern

Stern: It's Time For The Ineffectual Senate To Pass This Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | December 17, 2009, 2:21PM

SEIU President Andy Stern

SEIU President Andy Stern, whose union, along with other major labor organizations, is agonizing over the current state of the health care fight, told reporters today that the Senate should pass a controversial reform bill that has riven the left. In so doing, he defended President Obama from his critics, and offered a scathing critique of the United States Senate, which he says is not up to the task of governance anymore.

"We appreciate that President Obama for a year has been unflinching in his desire to get the job done when it would've been easy to take a detour," Stern said. "We believe the Senate has done all its going to do...and now it's time for a couple of obstructionists to get out of the way."

Stern went on, "it is time for the Senate to send this bill on to conference where the real work needs to be done."

Still, Stern said he opposes the Senate bill in its current form--a bold stance for a consummate insider like Stern, who has often shied away from critiquing the Democrats' agenda.

"We don't like the bill," Stern said. "It has to be improved."

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Health Care

Is It Game Over If The Senate Passes Health Care Reform? No.

Brian Beutler | December 17, 2009, 11:25AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

The Senate is still on track--barely--to pass a health care bill by Christmas. To pull that off, Democrats will need to speed through the next week without hitting any unexpected bumps in the road. And Republicans love to throw bumps into the road.

But this health care fight has made it abundantly clear: there's never any rest for the weary. Even if Harry Reid does everything right, he'll likely wake up the following Monday at the helm of a new project, and a new, short timeline. He'll have to reach agreement with the House of Representatives on a final health care bill that doesn't lose him a single vote.

Two key questions will determine whether that happens: 1). Will the final bill that emerges have moved too far to the left for the likes of conservative Democrats in the Senate? And 2). Will the lag time between passage of the Senate bill, and a vote on that final bill shake loose any Democrats, nervous about the ramifications of voting for a controversial, and increasingly unpopular package of reforms.

Though they can't be amended, conference reports can be filibustered. And the conservative Democrats in the Senate are so entrenched in their positions that Reid can't take their continued support for granted. Some of them are even demanding that certain provisions--most notably the public option--don't come back to life when Reid and other Senate health care principals sit down with their counterparts in the House.

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Health Care

Stern: Fight To Make Health Care Better Than The Senate Bill

Brian Beutler | December 17, 2009, 9:08AM

SEIU President Andy Stern

SEIU President Andy Stern doesn't like the Senate health care bill. But he can't quite bring himself to oppose it. In a letter to members, after an emergency meeting of the SEIU executive committee yesterday, Stern has penned a letter to members highlighting both the good and the bad in the legislation, and urging a fight to improve it.

The good:

We talked about everything that makes this reform meaningful:

· The 30 million more people who will have healthcare they can count on;

· The people who will no longer lose their coverage if they get sick;

· All of us who no longer have to worry about being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions;

· Women who will no longer be discriminated against just because of their gender.

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Bernie Sanders

Sanders: We Should've Used Reconciliation To Pass Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2009, 5:11PM

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has faced a series of disappointments in the last few days. The public option was nixed. The Medicare buy-in died. His single-payer amendment had to be pulled from the floor. As a result, he's not in a position to support the bill yet--"I'm not there," he said today--and he's working with leadership to figure out a way to vote for cloture. But he thinks Democrats missed a golden opportunity.

"If I had my druthers, i think reconciliation is an absolutely appropriate route to go," Sanders told reporters. "I think what people who oppose that will tell you is that you can't have the kind of comprehensive legislation that the Senate is trying to deal with now, and that may in fact be true. But there are a heck of a lot of things that you can do that would strengthen our health care system in a cost effective way that could be a giant step forward for the American people."

"I certainly would've appreciated that route," he said.

That puts him slightly at odds with other public option champions in the Senate--most notably Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)--who in recent weeks have articulated the Democratic leadership's view that reconciliation is off the table, and not a good option for passing health care reform.

Health Care

Poll: Loss Of Public Option Causes Big Increase In Opposition To Health Care Bill

Eric Kleefeld | December 16, 2009, 3:32PM

President Barack Obama

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll coming out later today will show opposition to the health care bill growing -- mainly from disappointed liberals, who are very much disappointed to see the public option getting thrown out.

The poll has 47% saying the Obama health care plan is a bad idea, to only 32% who say it's a good idea.

Chuck Todd writes on Twitter: "Most of the movement on the 'bad idea' comes from some of the president's core support groups, folks upset about lost public option." He also writes: "Still, large majorities of the president's core support groups believe his plan is a 'good idea,' but the margins have shrunk."

In addition, 44% now say it's better to not pass this bill -- seemingly a large bloc of conservatives, plus some liberals -- to 41% who say it's better that something pass: "First time NBC-WSJ poll had that upside down."

Health Care

Even With The Public Option Gone, Passing Health Care Reform Won't Be Easy

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2009, 9:32AM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

The public option is dead. Its successors are dead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) as much yesterday afternoon. And yet still, there's lingering uncertainty about whether a). the votes are there to pass a health care bill, or, relatedly, b). the bill can pass by Christmas. Here's what would have to happen in the next 9 days to get that done.

Align the liberals and centrists

Reid's first order of business is to make sure that there are 60 votes committed to pulling this bill past a filibuster (actually, several filibusters, but we'll get to that). On the left flank of his party are three particularly disappointed Democrats: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Roland Burris (D-IL), and Russ Feingold (D-WI).

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Health Care

VIDEO: Howard Dean Says 'This Is Not Real Reform'

Christina Bellantoni | December 16, 2009, 9:20AM

Fmr. DNC Chair Howard Dean

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean sounds off on the health care bill on MSNBC's Keith Olbermann show last night.

"They're not thinking about what they are doing here," Dean says, calling the negotiations a "real disappointment."

He said "to make Joe the issue" is a mistake, though he told TPMDC last month that Sen. Joe Lieberman and others have a "moral obligation" to vote with the caucus on procedural issues.

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Health Care

Brown: Public Option Or No, I'm Voting For This Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2009, 8:04PM

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) says he's in for health care reform, even though his key initiative--the public option--and all of its alternatives, have been swept into the dust bin.

"I'm going to vote for it," Brown told reporters. "I can't imagine I wouldn't. I mean there's too much at stake. And it's not at me, it's not about any senator, it's not about Lieberman, it's not about Harry Reid."

I asked Brown if he'd challenged Lieberman on his opposition to the public option and the buy-in.

"In the meeting with the President, I just made a direct appeal to him...I answered the arguments I've heard him make from your reporting: that it's revenue neutral, that it doesn't hurt Medicare," Brown said.

So what of the fact that Lieberman supported the buy-in as recently as three months ago?

"That's for him and his...that's for him to figure out.

Health Care

Reid Assures Snowe That Public Option, Medicare Buy-In Are Dead

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2009, 7:54PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

It wasn't much in doubt, but Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) confirmed to reporters tonight that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured her all of the contentious aspects of the public option compromise--particularly the Medicare buy-in provision--have been dropped.

The two met this afternoon so that Reid could gauge the likelihood that she'll ultimately vote with the Democrats, at least to push the bill past a filibuster.

He assured you that the Medicare buy-in and the public option are out, I asked?

"Correct," she said.

Still, Snowe insists, as she did earlier today, that there may not be enough time between now and the end of this week for her to understand the bill well enough to support it, as it enters the Senate holds a series of supermajority votes needed to finish the bill by Christmas.

With three unknowns--Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Roland Burris (D-IL), and Russel Feingold (D-WI)--on the left, and a wavering Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) on the right, Reid still has a lot of ground to cover.

Barack Obama

Obama To Dems: Don't Screw Up This Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2009, 4:10PM

President Barack Obama

With the public option dead, and likely not coming back to life, President Obama huddled with Senate Democrats at the White House today bringing a familiar message: "get this done."

According to Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), about a dozen senators, including Joe Lieberman (I-CT) spoke up at the gathering, many offering their displeasure with the fact that the public option, and its potential alternatives have been scrapped.

"Today was a very frank articulation of what's at stake for the country, and what's at stake for us, that we're not going to get a chance like this for a long, long time," Casey told reporters, "maybe not in our lifetimes."

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